Hotels near Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.

Pros: clean room and bedding, bathroom clean, large towels, walk in shower, easy check in, room size is large, ok location near sights and metro. Cons: room very dark (only 2 overhead spotlights, no overhead lights over bed area), poorly appointed room (tiny minifridge, no dresser (only closet with hangers), no microwave, 4 K-cups for a 3 night stay with 2 paper cups), poor soundproofing, temperature control in shower difficult. Handheld showerhead doesn't work. No free breakfast. Onsite restaurant for breakfast starts at $15. Weird creepy/haunted vibe throughout. Overall: meh. Probably better places in DC for the amount of money this place cost. The ridiculous ”facilities fee” for what, exactly? The tiny gym?

My wife and I just spent 6 wonderful days staying at the Hilton Garden Inn! The hotel is in a great location and is very clean and well appointed but I must say, the thing that puts it over the top is the exceptional service!! From our check in at the front desk with Tyler who took care of all of our needs and always had the time to chat and answer any questions to the servers we encountered it was fabulous. A special call out to the following people: Robert the bartender was simply the best! In addition to making great drinks, he was very personable, engaging, and became a friend during our visit. The restaurant servers were equally fantastic. Nitporn, Mooggii, and Amel, we’re phenomenal!!They went out of their way every day to greet us and took the time to take a sincere interest in us personally and how our trip was going. They were very efficient and always had a smile on their face no matter how hectic the restaurant became. They also became friends during our visit. We have traveled around the world and stayed at many hotels in our life but never received better service even very expensive 5 star establishments. This is now our hotel of choice in DC and will highly recommend it to all of our friends in Oregon!!

This review is not based on my latest visit, but, rather my experiences when I lived in DC for four years while attending Georgetown and later trips to visit friends and family. I won’t discuss surrounding areas such as historic Alexandria, Civil War battlefields and Washington’s home Mt Vernon. We were ridiculously lucky on our last trip which was in August as the weather was atypical DC… cool and low humidity. First suggestion, don’t travel to DC in peak summer months as it’s hot and humid, unless, of course, you love sweating your skin off. DC is a beautiful city and it has been dramatically gentrified over the years, areas that decades ago would have been dangerous to visit are now very safe. Of course you should take the Capitol Building tour, the White House tour, see the Archives, tour the FBI building, Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery, Washington Cathedral, and visit the numerous museums, if you are into museums. For those of you who are willing to go the distance, check out the crypts at the National Cathedral, see the bizarre National Museum of Health and Medicine, yes, they have the bullet that killed Lincoln, stop by the Anderson House for a free tour, visit Hillwood Estate and Gardens, the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, and walk the grounds of the Congressional Cemetery. However, what many tourists do not do, and they should, is explore the neighborhoods and walk the streets of Georgetown, Adams-Morgan, DuPont Circle, Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights, and Kolorama to name a few. While touring the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood, stop by the Eastern Market and pick up some fresh food. Take walking tours, you can’t take enough walking tours. Free Tours by Foot is excellent and offer a variety of tours. I highly recommend Historic Georgetown and the any of their Ghost Tours at night. Also, local historian, Ed Moser, offers an excellent tour of Lafayette Square. Plan to see and visit the National Monuments at night… they look spectacular. If it’s still possible to go to the top of the Washington Monument, once again, do it at night. And for those who love the trails… visit Rock Creek Park and Roosevelt Island. Also, don’t forget to explore the campus of Georgetown University… walk into Healey Hall and take a look at Riggs Library one of the few remaining cast iron libraries in the USA. Stop by Old North where George Washington once spoke. And since you are in the area, stop by and visit Dumbarton Oaks and Tudor Place, the family home of Martha Washington. Finally, don’t forget to take a boat ride on the C&O canal in Georgetown, the rides are available Wednesday to Sunday. One more thing… I’m not a foodie, but, stop by and pick up a cupcake at Baked and Wired on Jefferson Street in Georgetown not far from the canal… bon appetite!!

Nice big hotel, but not the cleanest. Found several different hairs in the shower, bathroom and by the bed that weren’t mine and they were different colors. Bed was comfy and the gym was really good (new, huge and clean), because it’s a private gym for people who live in the luxury building across the street. Check-in staff were friendly :).

The location is excellent, in the dock area, it seems to be the local high-end living and entertainment area, the restaurants are relatively high-end. The night view is not bad. The hotel is very new, the door is small, the lobby needs to take the elevator to the second floor. The room is large, the health is good, and the view is good. The only downside is that the water in the faucet is not very clean at first, so it will be fine for a while.

This hotel was okay for the price, but let me quickly highlight this hotel. 1. Two nights with parking $718 2. Breakfast buffet in hotel$20 a person not a whole lot of choices. 3. Bar and Grill in restaurant average cost $15 per plate 4. The side of the Hotel with the single elevator, are the train tracks. Ask to stay away from the train tracks!! Train runs all night and blows its horn. 5. I asked the security guard at the hotel where a store was so that we can buy soft drinks and juice. He directed me to another hotel that has a quick to go market in their Lobby. Asking a local on my way to that hotel, the local directed us to a CVS about a 10-minute walk away. Upon returning to our hotel, we came in through the main lobby and saw a quick to go market off to the side of the front desk, and it was open 😡 5. This hotel is dog friendly although I never saw a dog relief area. So I suppose you have to take your dog before a walk on the street. And that area had plenty of dog walkers. 6. The parking garage is super small and tight. If you have a two-door Jeep, you'll find it just comfortable. Anything bigger, and you'll be upset. 7. The sink in our bathroom was stopped up, but I did not tell the hotel staff about it so that's my fault. 8. At check-in, the representative at the front desk did not offer any other information than what I asked for. So if I didn't know to ask... 9. It is a central location to the museums and the mall, so please once you park don't move your vehicle. Get good old-fashioned exercise and walk. 10. There are two food trucks right across the street from the hotel although I never saw anyone man them. There is a McDonald's at the corner and a mom and Shop Pizzeria next to the McDonald's. The pizzeria is probably the least expensive and most delicious of the food that we've had the entire weekend. It was good for what I needed; the room was large, the bed was comfortable and the shower was nice and hot. I do believe next time I'll just take the Amtrak train for the day and save my $700!

I came to the Holiday Inn Express with two of my friends and the assistant manager Ibrahim was very helpful when we had some trouble checking in and he was very helpful throughout the process of helping us. Very professional and my friend and I will definitely come back to this hotel because of him.

We chose the Hilton because of its location at DuPont Circle and proximity to the metro. It was perfect. Very clean and excellent service. We had a corner room with large windows and a nice view. We weren’t able to check in early and still have our chosen room but we left our luggage with the bell captain, parked and went off to explore on foot for awhile, taking the advice from a helpful front desk clerk for a nice place for lunch close by. Everything was close by. It worked out perfectly. The price of the hotel was excellent too which offset the cost of parking ($56/day) in the garage below where the car stayed for the whole trip. It was very easy to park and get back inside. The restaurants looked lovely but we didn’t eat there. There were just too many local choices and we were out walking most of the day. The bell captain was helpful in getting us a cab one cold evening when my Uber app was be working well. He went outside in the cold until he was able to hail one for us (comparable in price to the Uber we would’ve taken) Lovely stay. Highly recommend.

The location is very convenient and not far from the subway station. The only regret is that the lights and exhausts of the bathroom are a switch, and the sound of the exhaust is too noisy, and the bathroom is blacked out several times.

The room is good, it feels that the service does not match the hardware of the hotel, it seems that their front desk is more enthusiastic to serve whites! The small refrigerator is still locked, it is speechless, and I have lived in many high-end hotels. This situation is unique... Overall, the experience is not so good, it needs to be improved, there is no coffee machine in the room, the front desk says that the lobby is always available. However, after the first day of drinking, there was no more 😓😓😓😓😓 friends lived next to Hyatt, which is a good price.